Father Stephen De Young: Chapter 13:

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

We’re still in the same context. That season is, what time of year is it when Christ is coming into Jerusalem? We’re approaching Passover. So, it’s not just Jesus and his disciples who are traveling to Jerusalem, lots of people are traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

And so there are some people from Galilee who are down there, who traveled like Jesus did, traveled south for the feast, and they tell him about, not that Jesus didn’t know, but they bring up what they’re speaking to him about, the Galileans whose blood was mingled upon the sacrifice.

I’ve mentioned this incident a few times before when talking about Pilate, when we were going through the Gospel, St. Matthew’s Gospel and St. Mark’s Gospel, that Pilate at one point got word that there was going to be an insurrection by one of the would-be Messiahs at the Passover. So they’re coming there for the Passover. They’re talking about this thing that happened a few years ago at Passover. And so he got word that there was somebody from Galilee who was claiming to be the Messiah and was going to try and start an insurrection at Passover. Pilate didn’t wait to see. I’ll keep an eye on that guy, and if he tries something, I’ll arrest him. That’s not how Pilate operated, because remember, Pilate as the Roman governor, his job is to keep order. That’s his only job, okay? If he has to go and massacre people to keep order, Rome doesn’t care, right? If he could keep order without doing much of anything, Rome doesn’t care. All they care is that there’s peace and order, so that they can keep collecting their taxes, taking their crops, taking what they want out of the province of Judea. We need peace and we need good order for that.

So Pilate gets word that this might happen, so he grabbed 150 random Jews off the street in Jerusalem, and he crucified them along both sides of every road leading into the city, hung them there to die, to make a point so that everybody who was coming into the city for the Passover would walk past them and see, this is what happens if you try anything in Jerusalem.

So Pilate’s goal is to make sure, not to quash the insurrection if it happens, but to make sure it doesn’t happen. And he’s willing to do this. We would say, well, that’s terrible, it’s 150 innocent people. Remember, the Romans didn’t consider non-Roman citizens to be people. They were legally listed as non persona in Latin, non-persons. They were like livestock. For Pilate, this was like if they had a disease outbreak in the cattle population, well, you go kill all the cattle. So, same kind of approach. There’s an insurrection outbreak among the people, so we’re going to have to kill a bunch of the people to stop the outbreak before it becomes an epidemic.

So, they come to Jesus and they’re talking about this pretty horrible thing that happened a few years before, probably. I mean, it’s not said here, but why might they be talking to Jesus about this? Maybe rumors are getting around that he’s the Messiah. We really don’t want to repeat a few years ago, right? We’d really rather that not happen.

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?”

So he asked them sort of a philosophical question, right? Pilot just sort of randomly picked these people, some of whom were Galileans. He just grabbed people off the street, it didn’t matter. But from their sort of theological perspective, why did God allow those particular people to suffer this terrible thing? Because they were the worst Galileans, and this was God’s judgment on them and acted through Pilate?

He says, “I tell you, no;”

He first says no. What happened to them was not… this is referring back, remember, to the whole way of thinking we saw in the Book of Job’s friends. All these horrible things happened to you because you must have done something really bad. You must have done something really awful. Which is this view “oh, God is going to get you.” Why is this here contextually? What was St. Luke just talking about? What was he just recording from Jesus? He was recording a lot of stuff about judgment, judgment for sins that God’s going to judge. So this is again further clarification. You think that’s why it was these Galileans, because they were just like the 35 nastiest Galileans? So God judged them, he says, no, that’s not how it works. But more importantly:

“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?”

So this was a sort of disaster that had happened to Jerusalem. The Tower of Siloam, which is one of the towers in the city wall, it was an ancient building, things happen and it collapsed. And in the collapse, 18 people were killed, tragically. He says, “Do you think those were just like the 18 worst sinners in Jerusalem? And that’s why the Tower fell on them?” right?

“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Interlocutor: I understand that he’s saying perish, like the final judgment.

Fr. Stephen: Right, that’s where he’s going with this.

Interlocutor: But he’s talking to the multitudes, who would think this is dying, as in on this earth?

Fr. Stephen: Right, and that’s why that “no” is important. If he hadn’t said that no, if he had said do you suppose these were the worst sinners? And he said, if you don’t repent, you’ll perish the same way, right? That would have sounded like you say, yes, you better get your act together. A tower is going to fall on you, right? Or Pilate’s going to round you up, right?

But again, context, they’re saying, “Wasn’t that horrible what happened a few years ago?” This is about the most terrible thing they could imagine happening to you, right? That’s about… the way that you could just be walking down the street, minding your own business, and Pilate could decide to torture you to death publicly, right? That’s up there, right? In terms of horrible things that could happen to you in this life, what’s the point Jesus is making? He’s making the same point again he’s been making in this passage we’ve been reading. You’re so worried about that. That’s the most terrible thing you could imagine. Or you’re sitting there saying, “Wasn’t that terrible? Those people who died in the tower collapse wasn’t that terrible?”

He’s like, “Well, yeah, that’s not great…  But there’s something far worse than that. You’re worried about that. That’s the worst thing you can imagine happening to you. There’s something far worse that could very well happen to you if you don’t repent and change your life now. There’s something pending against you, far worse than being in a tower collapse, far worse than being crucified.”

It’s also important that Jesus clarified that because he was about to be crucified by Pilate, it certainly wasn’t because he was the worst sinner in Jerusalem. Quite the opposite. But so that’s the point he’s making. I had a really gutsy friend in 2001 who preached on this passage right after September 11. That’s why I said it was really gutsy. But he wanted to make two points. The two points he wanted to make was, number one, some of those TV preachers who are going on TV saying this happened because of sinner, A, B, or C, were all wet. But number two, and more importantly, yeah, this is horrible. This is terrible. But if we don’t repent and change our lives and follow Christ, there’s something a whole lot worse in our future for each and every one of us.

And so this is, again, a focus on… remember, what was the first story we read before Jesus started teaching, which is a little story. When Jesus arrived, we know from the other gospels in Bethany, on his way to Jerusalem, he stayed with Mary and Martha. Remember, Martha was busy hostessing, and Mary was sitting there as a disciple at Jesus’s feet, listening to him. Martha said, “Tell Mary to quit loafing. Come help me with the dishes.”

And Jesus said, there’s one thing needful, he didn’t criticize Martha. As we said, contrary to many women’s Bible studies, he wasn’t criticizing Martha. Martha’s being hospitable is important, he said. But there’s one additional thing. There’s one piece one piece of the puzzle that Martha was missing, and that Mary had. And that was following Christ.

And so, in a lot of ways, everything we’ve been reading is an expansion of that. Whether it’s the Pharisees who are so concerned about washing their hands properly and going into their herb garden and plucking out a tenth of each herb to go and tithe it. But who didn’t care about justice or decency or kindness or compassion, right? They didn’t care about any of those, but they were… There’s this one thing that they were missing. People are getting all wrapped up in what am I going to eat tomorrow? What am I going to wear tomorrow? Am I going to have money… their budget? All concerned about these there’s one thing that they’re missing. Or Peter getting all wrapped up and what kind of reward he’s going to get, right? And whether he’s special or whether this is just for everybody, right?

There’s one thing he should be concerned about. Same thing here. These people who are traveling, they’re all abuzz about current events, right? That horrible thing that happened a few years ago with Pilate, that horrible thing that happened when the tower collapsed. And there’s one thing they should be concerned about, and they’re not. They’re being distracted by all these other things. They’re busy. Not with much serving, but they’re busy with all these other things. Busy, busy, busy. And they’re missing the one thing that’s really important.

Interlocutor: One of the books by Dietrich Bonhoffer that I was reading that wasn’t very pleasant…

Fr. Stephen: Which one? Cost of Discipleship?

Interlocutor: Yes. And he talked about cheap grace, so you almost feel guilty about being successful, as if you cannot do enough.

Fr. Stephen: Right. That’s why we have so many passages in the Gospels about how difficult it is for a rich person entered in the kingdom of heaven.

As Jesus said, it’s what you do with what you’re given. And the more you’re given, the more responsibility you have. That’s why it’s hard for rich man to enter into heaven not because being rich is evil, but because they’ve been given so much they have so much responsibility. Whereas a poor person who’s been given very little, proportionately… And that follows through not just with material wealth, but obviously with learning, with understanding, with all the other gifts of God.

Interlocutor: Do you think that America right now is under cheap grace?

Fr. Stephen: I don’t know about America. The quote for me from that book by Dietrich Bonhoffer that I always remember, that’s sort of his thesis statement is “he who the Son of Man calls, he calls to come and die.” And that’s very much in line with what we’ve been reading. Again, it’s not the glory train. Jesus isn’t calling you to wealth and prosperity and success and happiness the way this world defines happiness.

And so, as we were saying before, I think in this country we’ve been so blessed that we start taking things for granted. We take having the Scriptures to read for granted. We take how wealthy all of us are in this country compared to the rest of the world for granted. We’ve been given all this. And so I think to a degree, I agree with what you’re saying, that for a lot of people, being a Christian in this country, Orthodox Christian or otherwise, hasn’t cost them a lot yet. And again, that can change. And because it hasn’t cost us a lot to call ourselves Christians, it makes it cheap and easy to do. So as Christ is saying this here in this passage, we need to be prepared for it to cost something.

And we have to always be aware, as we were just saying, that whatever gifts God gives us comes with a responsibility attached to use those gifts for his glory, not for our own purposes. Whatever those are, whether they’re material or spiritual or whatever skills, talents, that we have responsibility to use those.

I agree to a point, that that is part of what Jesus is saying here. Both of those pieces that gifts come with responsibilities. Those who have been given much is required on the one side and then on the other side, that we always have to be prepared for Christianity to cost us potentially dearly. And it’s interesting in this chrismation service, I don’t know if you remember yours, but in the chrismation service, one of the prayers that we pray for, the person who’s being chrismated and who is coming into the Orthodox Church, is that they would always be prepared to die for Christ’s sake, if it came to it.

I think that’s important to have there in that service, that part of that decision to become a Christian is the decision to be willing to, if it comes down to it, to become a martyr for Christ. And if you’re not prepared to do that, then in all honesty, you shouldn’t join the Church because you’re going to be held accountable, right? You’re going to be held accountable for that.

On that upbeat note, “He also spoke this parable,”

This is continuing off what he just said. So he talked to them first about these two sort of horrible things that happened, these two disasters. Then he told them this parable, the same people:

“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”

So here’s this example. This fellow, he has his fig tree, full sized fig tree. This isn’t a new plant, right? Comes out one season, no figs. Comes out the second season, no figs. Third season, no figs. So finally, he says, “Look, I’ve come out here three years trying to get proof of this fig tree at this point. This fig tree is just taking up ground. It’s just taking up space. It’s not doing anything, right.” This is what my dad used to say about me as a teenager. I was just there on the couch taking up space, I wasn’t doing anything. So this this tree is useless. It’s just taking up space. Get rid of it. We’ll plant something else. That’s a valuable little piece of territory. We’ll plant another tree.

But the servant says to him, the steward of the vineyard says to him, “Okay, give me one more year, give me one more year. I’m going to dig all around it. I’m going to put in fertilizer, I’m going to put in the Miracle Gro, I’ll water it every day. We give it all the TLC. And if I do all that and next year, there’s still no figs, okay, I got nothing. You can pull it out. Nothing else I could do, right? There’s nothing else I could do.”

So, what’s Jesus talking about? Well, first of all, he’s talking about the people of Judea, who he’s speaking to. We’ll get there first. He’s talking to them because why? Who planted Israel? God planted Israel. Right. Brought them out of Egypt, planted them in the land. Why? He likes giving people land? Here, enjoy. No, to produce fruit, right? To bloom, to blossom, to thrive. Right. That’s why I did it. Not just to take up space between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, but to produce something. To produce something. And, as we saw throughout the Old Testament, God kept coming back and coming back and coming back, and no fruit.

So who is the keeper of the vineyard, of this parable, keeper of vineyards? Christ. Christ now comes, digs around it, fertilizes it, he’s given him everything up to it, including laying down his life, coming up, giving him everything. This doesn’t work either. What’s going to be the result? You remember back at the beginning of St. Luke’s gospel, you just told that little sort of nursery rhyme about the children in the marketplace? We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance. We played a dirge for you, and you didn’t mourn. I talked about the story I always use in reference to that, which is when I was a kid growing up in Southern California, that we seemed to just perpetually have a drought, year after year after year. It was always a drought. We always had to conserve water. And then one year, we got a whole ton of rain. And I remember the weatherman saying, well, over the course of the last two months, we’ve got like, six or seven inches of rain, so we got six or seven inches of rain, but it didn’t help with the drought.

I said, “Well, then we’re in real trouble,” right? Because if we’re getting rain and it’s not helping with the drought, I don’t think there’s anything else coming. We’re pretty much stuck with drought, then, if the rain doesn’t help. This is the same thing. The same thing Jesus said that nursery I was talking about. First they’ve got John the Baptist come and he was yelling and screaming at everybody to repent and laying the law down on them. They said, “Oh, he’s crazy, he’s demon possessed.” And then Jesus showed up healing people, eating with sinners, right, trying to reconcile people to God. And they said, “He’s a drunk,” there’s nothing else coming.

If the Gospel is old hat to you. There’s nothing else coming. And notice in the context what the fruit is. Sometimes, especially if we’re under the influence of some later Western Christianity, we have this idea that fruit is sort of these meritorious good deeds, right? Like we’re going to go and do something that’s going to impress God? I founded twelve monasteries and God will go, “Wow, that’s pretty good, all right”, and reward us for it, right? Which is a very arrogant way for human beings to think. Very arrogant way for human beings to think. We seem to think that, well, if I follow all the commandments and everything, then God owes me heaven, I have a right to go to heaven. No, if you manage to keep all of the commandments perfectly your entire life, you would have done the minimum that is required of you by God.

You would have earned nothing. Okay, so we can’t think that way. He’s talking about repentance. Good deeds from the perspective of the Gospels, from the perspective of Scripture, are not these sort of meritorious extra good things we do, right? Good deeds are part of repentance. Good deeds are part of us changing our lives. Repentance is not just, “Okay, I’m going to try really hard to stop sinning now.” Repentance is not trying to get to a neutral point. Repentance is being transformed into the image of Christ. If we’re being transformed into the image of Christ, yes, that means we’re going to put away sin, but that also means positively, we’re going to be doing the things that Christ does. We’re going to be taking on the characteristics that Christ has, like the fruit of the Spirit. We’ll become more loving, we’re going to have joy, we’re going to have peace.

So, the fruit here is fruits of repentance. It’s part and parcel of our repentance. When Jesus comes to Zacchaeus’s house, which I’ve been ahead a little, but when Jesus comes to Zacchaeus’s house, he doesn’t walk in the door and say, “Today salvation has come into this house,” referring to himself. He comes into Zacchaeus’s house and Zacchaeus says, “I’m paying back everything I stole. Not just how much I stole, but five times. I’m giving back five times what I stole to everyone I ever stole from.” That’s when Jesus says, “Salvation has come to this house,” because that’s when Zacchaeus has repented, not when he says, “Gosh, I’m really sorry I stole all that stuff. I’ll try not to do it anymore,” That’s not repentance. That’s trying to get off the hook. Repentance is when you change your life, when you change the way you’re living, when you work toward becoming a new person who is characterized by the things that characterize Christ rather than sin.

This parable is very pertinent because Christ has been talking about what? Repentance. He’s been talking about making things right before the Day of judgment. And that doesn’t just mean clearing the negative off the balance sheet. The positive is part and parcel of that.

So, this is the end of this particular discourse by Jesus. We’re about to have a transition, so it’s probably a good place to stop for the evening. This is where he ends his discussion about repentance.